I wanted to quickly update on the status of the Eyejusters glasses project that I posed about in January. Recently, the volunteers in charge of administering it found out that it was funded, and the list of donors indicated that some people who read this blog were involved. First of all, thank you so much! [...]
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It’s been a while coming…. like, a since-may-supposed-to-be-done-in-September-while coming, but Allah has smiled upon us all and the community center project is officially FINISHED! Yesterday was the zrda, or traditional opening ceremony for a building, hosted by the mens’ association from my village, and this means that the Nedi (community center) is now officially available [...]
So, it’s been a while. I had the wonderful opportunity to go home for three weeks over the holidays and absolutely loved soaking up every last little bit of america’s comforts (trader joes, costco samples, CHIPOTLE, jeopardy, zinfandel) as well as spend quality time with my family and friends… but now I’m back and it’s [...]
So just last week we celebrated Thanksgiving in my friends Jon and Nicole’s site up in the Mountains about an hour and a half southeast of my souk town (as the crow flies, about 2 hours from my site). Their village is called Oulad Ali and is BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely beautiful. I can say with 100% [...]
It’s that time of year again… the time of year where you eat way too many rich foods, wear obnoxious sweaters without irony, dust off the boxes of decorations, play those holiday songs…. and shamelessly plug your Peace Corps project that needs funding on your blog, right? This program was designed by myself, the members [...]
This last monday was Eid al-Adha (Eid al-Kebir), meaning “Holiday of the Sacrifice” which commemorates the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son for God. It’s the biggest holiday of the year, and every family slaughters a sheep in celebration. To read about last year, click here. The only thing of note this year [...]
The heat has officially broken, and i’m enjoying lovely chilly fall mornings and evenings, with a nice warm day in between. It won’t last long, but for now I’m loving it. I’m also loving sunset time (even more than usual) these past few days, as the corn harvest is over and the sun makes it [...]
It’s official, I have the most generous, fun, fascinating parents in the world. Thank you guys, and happy 28th anniversary! (I’m personally very appreciative that you got married). xxx
It actually happened! And people came! Al-humdiallah! This last Tuesday and Wednesday was our big Sexual Health and Gender Roles Training in our souk town. It is a bit of a milestone in my service thus far, as I was privileged to see it through from conception, to grant-writing, to grant-receiving, to Ramadan-waiting, to week-prior-scrambling, [...]
1.) An evening of “Ramadon’ts” with Zahara (thanks to Dan Connolly for the terminology). Around a year ago, I wrote a blog entry about a particularly awkward and ridiculous situation I got myself into with a new neighbor, made even more ridiculous by a pretty huge language nuance misunderstanding (to read that story, click here). [...]
In the interest of not going an entire month without updating (a la April… or whichever one it was that I skipped), I’m making an effort to write a general update about many small things, rather than some significant event… Over the course of a week at the end of June, I was privileged to [...]
As of last May 5th, my training group celebrated our one-year anniversary of swearing in as official Peace Corps volunteers. Now, our staj (or training group) is known for our propensity to make the most of any potentially social situation, and the mid-service required medicals presented just such an opportunity to myself and several of [...]
I am absolutely fine and very safe in my little corner of Morocco, but I thought it worth my time to write a quick update on the state of things from this end (especially considering I’ve been abandoning my blogging duties as of late… where or where did April GO?!). Anyway, I’ll let someone who [...]
Every year, USAID in Morocco funds week-long English language learning spring camps for Moroccan youth in cities all over the country. Peace Corps volunteers, led by those in the Youth Development sector, provide the formal English instruction throughout the week, as well as participate in and organize, along with Moroccan staff, other fun activities and [...]
Reflecting on the last weekend, all I can say is that i’m very grateful… and for many reasons. First of all, for the wonderful volunteers that share a souq town (market) with me. I turned 24 last Friday, and a real effort was made by all to get together and celebrate in the best way [...]
I’m standing at the front of a classroom PACKED with children ranging from age 6 to 14. I have two hand-drawn posters behind me and a flimsy “script” about some health topic in my hand. The kids are climbing on desks, leaping from seat to seat, charging toward the front of the classroom, pulling each [...]
Click the link for a brief Times article that discusses the situation for young girls in the developing world: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2046045,00.html?artId=2046045%3FcontType%3Darticle%3Fchn%3Dus Worth reading, It’s short and definitely applies to where I live. I’m hoping that the next few months (and next few posts concerning work) will deal with ameliorating this issue (or group of issues) in [...]
Good question. Up until last month, it would be very difficult to quantify what “work” entails here. Among my fellow trainees, the term “integration” is a hot issue, but it’s what has defined a majority of what I fill my time with here over the last several months. Language learning, Ramadan, moving in, hanging out [...]
It’s olive harvest season out here in the Moroccan countryside, and that is definitely something to blog about, if only for the fact that it has temporarily taken over the daily lives of my neighbors and friends. Everyone gets involved in the process, and finding myself out and about among various villages quite a bit [...]
So the first time that Iceland registers on my life-chronicle-whatever was one day in 6th grade in North Carolina that (for God knows what reason) has always stuck in my memory. We were covering geography and world capitals, and the capital of Iceland came up, Reykjavik (pronounced “Rek-ya-vick”). Now, to a sixth grader who’s highest [...]
So, this post is way overdue, but I have found myself in an apartment in Iceland for the holidays with my family… a perk of that situation is lightning-fast wireless internet, a mythical occurrence I vaguely remember from the United States of yore, which I intend to take FULL advantage of (as to that “yore” [...]
So… what would you do if this interaction happened to you a few weeks before Christmas: Strangers (after randomly knocking on your door): “um… excuse me… do you mind if we dig up two of the trees in your front yard? We will pay you for them” You: “um, what?” Strangers: “yeah… see, we would [...]
(WARNING: the end of the post has some bloody slaughter pictures, so if blood and mild carnage aren’t your thing, maybe skip this…) “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, Lamb Chop, those cute sheep who jumped over the fence to put you to sleep back in the day on Sesame Street, the friendly “Baa Ram Ewe” [...]
So, hopefully making the BIG MOVE to my permanent little cottage of a house this weekend! Photos and an update to come soon, inshallah! For now, a few random photos from the last several months.
I’ve had too much coffee, I should admit that first and foremost. It’s easy to overdo it, however, when the first opportunity for strong, black, french-pressed coffee presents itself after a 6-month hiatus. I won’t pretend to have been 6 months coffee-sober.. ohhhh no… but the appeal of drip coffee over Moroccan espresso (often burnt) [...]
(written on 10/19/2010) What follows is what I have come to consider an incredibly successful day at “work”… for those who are curious as to how I pass the average day (though this one was above average, admittedly) Cup of tea #1: In bed, green tea, NO SUGAR, reading the article in September Vogue about [...]
Is Grab-Bag hyphenated? Not important… So you know when you are reading a blog, or a book, or maybe an article about a foreign place and you think, “Wow, I really wish there were more photos of it, I am having a hard time picturing it from just the words!”. Yeah. Sorry about that. I [...]
A lady I just met is helping me squat to pee in her front yard, because my hands and feet are covered in brown, fragrant goo and wrapped up in booties such that I can’t quite pull down my own genie pants. This situation seems avoidable, I’m sure, and it was… but what’s a nice [...]
As I sit to write this, on my cozy floor pad next to a pile of hand-processed sheep’s wook and the liter of water i’m trying to gulp down consistently within the night hours, I’m officially four days down in my first Ramadan, and going strong! (Though I guess most people feel that way after [...]
The house with the blue door… or “l-dar ma’a l-bab zraq” in Arabic… It sounds like a bad horror film, like maybe “bad” in the good way… starring Paris Hilton for the first 15 minutes before she does something predictably stupid and dies. But it’s not. It’s the proverbial snake to my current mongoose… or perhaps [...]
He probably has many reasons not to wear them (although, I have to say that they are very breezy and I highly recommend them for activities other than bicycle riding for long distances). But more on this later, the very exciting news is that I have officially BEGUN SURVEYING! Wooo!!! Now, what does this mean? [...]
A coach in high school said something that has stuck with me through the years: “We often go through life and never tell the people who mean the most to us how we really feel about them”. It’s such a simple idea, such a simple statement, and it seems so obvious… but it’s not, in [...]
What a city. Seriously. Fes is absolutely awesome, from it’s laid-back vibe to it’s unique beauty and ambiance. Walking around the old Medina (city), one finds themself in a true labyrinth… but happily so. My experience in Jerusalem had prepared me for a fascinating walled city, brimming with souqs, merchants, smells, food, animals, tourists, [...]
I just finished my book, “Dark Star Safari” by Paul Theroux. It was great, I definitely recommend it to anyone who has an interest in travel, eastern and southern Africa, anecdotal storytelling, or history. The fact that it took me 9 months to finish has nothing to do with how quality a read it was, [...]
By the end of his “baby shower” last saturday, little Jihad was crying at the top of his poor, tired, tiny little lungs… and all i wanted to do was join him, with my poor, tired, not-so-tiny lungs. But that is life, Jihad, welcome to your new reality. Just wait until you get to start [...]
yup, that title is an analogy. I chalk the nerdiness up to my nostalgia for English, and i refuse to apologize. moving on. I am really living on the edge at the moment… I’m putting faith in this computer, in this small internet cafe in my souq town with the astronomically high hopes that it [...]
(written on 4/30/2010) We wrap up language class around 5:30 and start the slow process of trickling out the Mdrasa doorway, in groups according to what part of town we all live in. The afternoons have gradually become warmer and stickier, but by the time we are leaving a welcome breeze is [...]
(written on 4/23/10) I don’t really know why, but this blog entry is hard for me to write. I am definitely not lacking new things to talk about, so the reason for my procrastination eludes me. It might have something to do with having TOO MUCH to write. I guess I [...]
I have so much to write about, but no time to accomplish it in! The big, exciting news is that I now have a new address in my permanent site’s Souq town, at which I can receive BOTH letters and packages! I have put it in the sidebar of this blog, but I’ll write it [...]
It all started innocently. Tina invited us over to tea, back when we were all blissfully ignorant of the consequences of such an action in small-town Morocco. On that Sunday afternoon when we all met at Tina’s host family’s house, and had a HUGE tea service with no shortage of fried-dough-sugar-covered goodies, we walked away [...]
Scorpion! (how come all of my favorite pictures are of Adam?)
Making pizza in the kitchen with the famAvery, Myself, Internet Cafe window in Skoura (the city) on a BEAUTIFUL day
So, this last week has been an interesting one for me. I guess you could say that I started off on a bit of a low [...]
So, just a quick bit of information for those I hadn’t told before I left. The Peace Corps policy is that I should not receive packages while i’m in training. Post offices here may charge tariffs on them, as our mail sometimes has to stay at the post office in Rabat for long periods of [...]
So here is the question: how do I relate a two-week constant overload of new experiences, anecdotes, tastes and smells (especially smells….) without constantly digressing into oblivion, thus losing my focus completely, or writing an epistle that no one really wants to read? Well, honestly it seems impossible. And, as I can safely assume that [...]
i am in ouarzazate right now for one night to have some meetings, debriefing sessions on homestay and the beginning of training, and my second rabies vaccine! yayy! (digression: not being allowed to pet dogs here is a hard survival skill to learn, though less so when they have visible ticks and fleas)
my host family [...]
So I don’t have very much time, we have a health sector meeting coming up, but I thought I’d take the rare instance of some spare time to update everyone. We (obviously, i guess) arrived safely to Casablanca and landed at around 7:30am, before taking a 2 hour bus ride to Marrakech directly. We checked [...]
So it is around 8am, and I have a lot of reconsolidating of my bags to do. An 80 pound limit sounds generous until you decide that you need to bring half of your home library, including four textbooks on language, which is some heavy stuff. I’m not worried, but anyone who knows me knows [...]
Philadelphia is beautiful. I forgot how much I love cities along the east coast… red brick, a good amount of history, plaques here and there, and a classy yet unassuming building off to the right that just HAPPENS to be the temporary seat of the US supreme court from 1791-1800. eh, whatev.
A group of us [...]
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